Chhaayaageet #93 - “Yeh gaana toh popular ho gaya.”

The filmmaker, composer and lyricist are all huddled together in a room. One song is done and now they are focusing on the next one. Everybody is in a pensive mood and deep into brainstorming. Ideas are popping but not really sticking. It’s not just the song but the title of the film is missing too. Definitely weird that the title has still not been decided.

The composer has some scratch lyrics. He keeps coming up with one tune after another using those. The filmmaker is not impressed.“Ye theek nahin lag raha hai” This doesn’t sound good.

Now it's the filmmaker's turn. He is the son of a well-known filmmaker who has created several classics over the years. The song from one of the father's films keeps repeating in the young filmmaker's mind.

Every time he thinks of an idea to suggest to the others, a song from his father's film comes in his mind and blocks everything else. Then it strikes him. He uses a version of the old song lyrics and starts singing. The tune is close to what the composer has come up with. Both the composer and the lyricist have a unanimous glow on their faces.

The composer is ecstatic,“Yeh sahi hai. Aur yehi hai iss film ka title bhi ho sakta hai.” This sounds really good. Also, this should be the film title! The filmmaker is impressed with what has his brainchild.

The composer and lyricist breathe a sigh and relief. “What’s the next song now? Explain the situation", they ask the situation.

“Not so fast”, the filmmaker is not ready to move on from this song. “We need an English version.” The composer is puzzled. “How can we have regular Hindi singers sing an English song.”

But the filmmaker is already a few chess moves ahead, “I know someone who can do justice but she is not from India.”

It is decided. They fly in the singer for the rehearsals and final recording. The rehearsals begin. Except there is a problem. The song has a word with the "Dh" sound. The singer can only pronounce it with a “D” sound. What can she do? That sound does not exist in her native language.

"Ok, let's try again." The composer keeps trying but it only keeps amusing the singer. She feels she is singing correctly. The composer decides to give up. The wrap up the recording as best as they can.

The composer does not have a good feeling. This music may not become a rage among the audiences. He really needs the music to become a hit. The music of a couple of his past films was not bad but the films had flopped. Not many people in the industry know who he is. Anyway, it is what it is. He consoles himself and moves on.

The music of the film is launched through a music company before the release date. It has been playing on the radio and the film soundtrack has been available in audio cassettes.

The composer has a ritual of visiting Shirdi around the release date of his film. It is important to get Sai's blessing. On his way driving toward Shirdi, he hears a car honking behind him. But wait, it is not a regular honk. It is actually the same title song that he has just composed. What are the odds! A smile breaks on his face. “Ye gaana toh popular ho gaya”. This song has become popular.

The song Dhoom Machale was composed by Pritam Chakraborty and penned by Samir for the movie Dhoom. The film was produced by Aditya Chopra and directed by Sanjay Ghadvi. Dhoom was the first installment of the Dhoom franchise. It spawned a film series, with its sequel Dhoom 2, and Dhoom 3 which were also quite successful.

Pritam was fairly new to the film industry. Prior to that he was composing jingles and opening songs for TV serials. Things seem to be going fine in his life but there was always the itch to create compositions for Hindi films. Pritam got his first break for Tere Liye where he composed as a pair along with Jeet Ganguli. Though the music was well-received, the film missed the mark. The Jeet-Pritam duo once again composed music for Yash Raj Films' Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai. All the songs from that film were chartbusters. Soon after, over some misunderstanding, Jeet decided to split and they went their separate ways.

Sanjay Ghadvi directed Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi where he saw the potential in Pritam. For his next film, Dhoom, he introduced him to the producer, Aditya Chopra. They had already composed one song, Dilbara, for the movie but the film title and title song had not been decided yet. Aditya Chopra came up with the thought of making Dhoom while watching his father, Yash Chopra, make Kaala Patthar. In fact, the title and title song came to Aditya Chopra from the song Dhoom Mache Dhoom in Kaala Pathar.

For the English version of the song, Aditya Chopra wanted to use Tata Young as the singer. She was quite popular in Thailand and Aditya felt this would help the film become as popular in other parts of Asia outside of India. Tata had a problem with the pronunciation of the word “Dhoom” and could only manage “Doom”. Pritam gave up eventually and decided to go with Tata’s version.

At the 50th Filmfare Awards, Dhoom received 6 nominations, including Best Film, Best Villain (John Abraham), and Best Music Director (Pritam), and won 2 awards for Best Editing and Best Sound Design.

Singer (Hindi version): Sunidhi Chauhan
Singer (English version): Tata Young
Music: Pritam Chakraborty
Lyrics: Sameer
*ing: Esha Deol, John Abraham, Abhishek Bachchan, Uday Chopra
Producer: Aditya Chopra
Director: Sanjay Ghadvi
Film: Dhoom (2004)